The present invention relates generally to vehicle steering assemblies and more particularly, to the type of steering column construction that is enabled to absorb forward impact energy by controlled deflection of the steering column components and the steering wheel assembly in occurrence of a vehicle collision.
To protect a motor vehicle driver in occurrence of a collision, there have been introduced various types of safety apparatus for steering assemblies. In the prior art devices, however, the safety feature is rather limited to local deformation of the steering wheel or to an axial deflection of the steering column, which is never enough to expect desired safety effects for the drivers, particularly, for certain types of vehicles. This has particularly been true for the drivers of tracks of cab-over type and buses the steering shafts of which are rather vertically provided to have the steering wheels positioned angularly toward the driver's bodies. Thus, the sharp angle of the impact load given to the drivers has resulted in serious damages against the drivers.
It should well be considered to be very ideal for the mentioned certain types of vehicles, if the drivers are protected by total impact energy absorbing operation obtained through enough deflective displacements of the steering column as well as the steering wheel.